John Higgins scored a comfortable 6-2 win over Oliver Lines at the International Championship in Nanjing and afterwards admitted he’s in a far better place than his last trip to China.
The legendary Scot conceded he was struggling for motivation at the Wuhan Open earlier in the season. He said this was prompted by a bucket list holiday to the set of the set of American soap opera Dallas for his 50th birthday during the summer.
However, since then, a run to the semi-finals of the British Open and the quarter-finals of the Northern Ireland Open have reignited the 33-time ranking event winner’s enthusiasm.
Higgins made breaks of 86, 66 and 56 during today’s victory and now faces Iranian number one Hossein Vafaei.
Higgins said: “Ollie has had some great results this year. He beat Judd in Saudi and beat Mark Allen in Xi’an. They are two of the best players, so I’m sure I didn’t hold a lot of fear for him. But he didn’t play well at all today. He really struggled and I just picked up the pieces.
“As you get older it affects you a bit more. It is the same old grind. You are going to have difficult moments getting motivated. That is understandable. When you are actually out there you are trying so hard to win. My game is at a decent level, which is good.”
During his post match press duties, Higgins also commented on the recent difficulties of his beloved Celtic Football Club and revealed that interim manager Martin O’Neill is a massive Anthony McGill fan.
“We are a basket case just now but it is amazing seeing Martin O’Neill. He was the manager when I was younger and going to games more often. I had some great moments following his team,” said the four-time Crucible king.
“I’ve met him a couple of times and he is an absolute gentleman. He loves Anthony McGill! He always asks how young Anthony is. I think he’d been at the World Championship and Anthony was playing. It just so happened Anthony was walking out his dressing room and it was a surreal moment when Martin O’Neill was walking towards him. Anthony introduced his dad, who was a big Celtic fan, to him. Ever since then he took a massive shine to him. That is easily done as he’s a good boy.”
Shaun Murphy overcame a remarkable display from 14-year-old amateur Wang Xinzhong to prevail 6-5 and earn a clash with Elliot Slessor.
2005 World Champion Murphy described Wang, who is the brother of tour professional Wang Xinbo, as the future of snooker after the match.
A high quality match saw Wang compile two centuries on his way to leading 5-4. However, recently crowned British Open champion Murphy made breaks of 72 and 89 in the last two frames to emerge victorious.
Murphy said: “I’ve never seen anything like that. I was good at 14. Ronnie was good at 14, as were many others. I think that young man may well be the best 14-year-old I’ve ever seen. He has everything. I kept waiting for him to crack but he played like someone who has 20 titles and doesn’t have a care in the world. I think I’ve just seen the future of snooker. Unbelievable.
“I turned professional at 15 so I knew you couldn’t take any liberties with anybody. Especially someone who has beaten the Women’s World Champion and Robbie Williams. I missed two or three balls of any consequence in the whole match. I somehow found myself 5-4 down against someone playing snooker from the gods.”
World number two Kyren Wilson earned his progression with a 6-2 defeat of David Lilley. The Warrior top scored with 95 and plays Stephen Maguire next up.
Despite the time difference, he revealed he was still getting plenty of support from home from his wife, who is on the mend after struggling with her health and undergoing successful surgery.
“The first game in any tournament the first game is a potential banana skin. Obviously flying over to China the jet lag and time difference can play a big part. Surprisingly I felt quite fresh considering. David Lilley is a seasoned professional so that was a good 6-2 win there,” said 33-year-old Wilson.
“My brother Taylor (also manager) is living the dream and having a week off. It can be quite lonely when you are on your own. I have many friends in China now who take care of me and look after me. In terms of once we are here the hospitality side of things is fantastic. It is hard to walk out of the front door and say goodbye to family. Sophie actually Facetimed me just before I went on with a cup of tea. It is 1am back home but she got up to watch. That was quite nice.”
World number one Judd Trump sealed his progression with a 6-3 win over former Masters and UK Champion Matthew Stevens. His next opponent is Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham.
Ronnie O’Sullivan rallied from losing the first two frames for the second day in a row, this time claiming six on the trot to beat Sanderson Lam 6-2. He now faces a fascinating clash with last week’s Northern Ireland Open champion Jack Lisowski, who won 6-4 against Louis Heathcote.
Ding Junhui followed up a whitewash win in round one with a 6-1 defeat of Michael Holt, while World Champion Zhao Xintong beat Fan Zhengyi 6-3.
Here are the scores for Ronnie’s match:
After a slow start, Ronnie played quite well. He wasn’t at his best, but did enough and never looked in danger. The worrying thing though was that he looked concerned about his tip for most of the match and we know how obsessed he can become about such things. Hopefully he will have solved the “problem” – whatever that is – before tomorrow’s match. He will face Jack Lisowski who will certainly present a tougher challenge that Ronnie previous two opponents, no disrespect to them.
No mention in the above report about Ronnie’s post-match. From what I could gather from Weibo, he praised China, a beautiful country … and … ate an impressive number of bananas during the interview.
The following short videos were shared by TNT and WST respectively on YouTube
Ronnie O'Sullivan 